Pistorius arrived in Kyiv on the morning of Tuesday, November 21, by train. According to the publication, he is scheduled to hold talks with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and the country’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.

NTV.de with link to Ministry of Defense Germany writes that with his visit Pistorius wants to confirm support for Ukraine. The main topics of negotiations will be military assistance and training of soldiers.

This is Pistorius’s second visit to Kyiv since taking office. He visited the Ukrainian capital for the first time in February 2023. As a gift, he brought with him a toy Leopard 2 tank—the kind Germany supplies to Ukraine.

Germany has been supplying Ukraine with weapons since the beginning of the military operation. The country ranks second in terms of aid volume after the United States; in 2022, Berlin supplied Kiev with assistance worth more than €12 billion. In addition, in Germany, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are trained to operate the Patriot air defense system, the Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled artillery mount, the Marder infantry fighting vehicle, and also with Leopard 1 and Leopard 2 tanks. In total, Germany plans to train 10 thousand Ukrainian military personnel on its territory by the end of the year.

Russian authorities criticize the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine. The Kremlin insists that Moscow will achieve all its goals in any case, and the “pumping of weapons” will only increase the suffering of the Ukrainian people.